


Missing Mavis

by Mai_Blade



Series: Mavis Pines [3]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Death, Missing Persons, Reader is Mavis Pines, Time Shenanigans, child goes missing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-08-04 12:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16347131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mai_Blade/pseuds/Mai_Blade
Summary: Fifty years is a long time to miss one's sister.[AU of Forever (and Never)]





	1. Seconds

Twilight had fallen upon the forest and you were glad to be nearly back to the Mystery Shack. You wondered what Great Uncle Stan had cooked for dinner. You hoped he made your favorite, even if that was a slim hope. Mabel and Dipper were probably already back. They’d be getting worried soon if you didn’t hurry up.

With that thought in mind, you quickened your steps, completely missing the faint warping of the area in front of you.

Walking quickly and with your mind elsewhere, something caught between your feet and made you give a small yelp as you nearly tripped. A wave of dizziness washed over you, but in a moment it was gone, and you suddenly found yourself stumbling. Flailing your arms, you managed to keep your balance and regained a solid footing.

Tossing your thick braid over your back, you continued on your way, taking more care with your footing as you walked. Swinging your violin case, you broke into the clearing of the Mystery Shack to see a familiar black-clad figure on the porch couch. Oops, looks like you were a little later than usual if Stan was outside waiting for you. Maybe if you greeted him cheerfully he wouldn’t chew you out.

Waving your free hand, you called out, “Great Uncle Stan!”

At the sound of your voice, the man stood up and stumbled down the stairs, nearly tripping in his haste to close the distance between you two. Pausing now with sudden wariness, you watched as Stan staggered across the yard towards you. Only, as he neared you realized…

That wasn’t Great Uncle Stan at all.

“ _Stop._ ” You took a single step backwards as the man obeyed, coming to a stop less than twenty feet away from you. You glared at him. “Who are you? Where is my Great Uncle Stan?”

The old man stared at you with a terrible and desperate _longing_ that made you greatly uneasy. You gripped the handle of your violin case tightly, fully prepared to swing it at the stranger’s head if he moved towards you again.

“Mavis… it’s me.”

How does this stranger know your name? Were you supposed to know him?

The old man gave you a tearful smile as he lifted his hand to his chest. He spoke with difficulty, sounding caught between crying and laughing as he repeated himself and said something incomprehensible and completely impossible.

“It’s me. It’s Dipper.”

* * *

**How did it get so late so soon?**

**~Dr. Seuss**


	2. Minutes

Walking into the kitchen for dinner, Dipper saw in a glance that his little sister wasn’t there yet.

“Where’s Mavis?”

( _the nightmare begins_ )

Mabel chews on her french-fry fangs and looks around the kitchen. “Now that you mention it, she should be back by now. Have you seen her, Grunkle Stan?”

Stan stabs his french-fries with a fork. “Last I saw her she was in the shop with you two.”

“That was this morning,” Dipper murmured distractedly, thinking about where his little sister could be. “I had to clean up a small mess in the kitchen because someone made sandwiches and left the stuff out. I guess that was her. That would explain why she didn’t come back for lunch, too.”

“I ate her lunch when it was cold,” Mabel confessed.

“I know, I saw,” Dipper replied.

Stan gestured to the ceiling. “She’s not upstairs?”

Dipper shook his head. “I just checked. There’s no one in the bathroom either.”

Stan leaned back and bellowed, “ _MAVIS!!_ ”

They waited in silence for a reply but none came. Mabel and Dipper exchanged worried glances as Stan stood up. He went to the back door and out onto the porch, closely followed by the two kids. He cupped his hands together and bellowed again into the deepening twilight. “ ** _MAVIS!!_** ”

Birds took flight, but no girl appeared or called back.

Dipper stared at the darkening woods and firmly decided that there was no way his little sister was out there. He turned around and marched back into the house. “I’m going to call Gideon and tell him he shouldn’t keep Mavis out so late. Didn’t you tell him, Grunkle Stan, ‘bring her home before dark’? You did, right? Well, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind!”

Mabel hurried after him, her laughter slightly strained. “You’re right. Gideon probably has her. She’s probably out on a date or something.”

Stan followed the kids back inside. “But it’s not Tuesday or Friday…”

They pretended not to hear him.

***

Gideon heard the telephone ring and soon heard his father pick it up. He half-listened as he planned his next psychic session at the Tent of Telepathy. However, his thoughts derailed when he heard his beloved’s name.

“Mavis? Why, I don’t reckon I’ve seen her all day. I know Gideon hasn’t either—“

Gideon pushed aside his papers and hurried to the phone. “Give me the phone, daddy.” Once the phone was in his hand, Gideon asked, “Who is this and why are you looking for my Mavis?”

Mavis’s brother’s voice came through. “This is her brother and I want to know why you’ve kept her out so late!”

Gideon scowled. “I haven’t seen my Mavis today. You’d better not have lost her, Pines.”

( _frightening words that sear themselves into their minds and will burn brighter with every hour_ )

Dipper’s voice cracked. “…You don’t have her?”

Gideon clutched the phone. “What do you mean? Where is she, Pines?”

“She hasn’t come home yet. She still might, but we’re worried. We thought— _hoped_ —she’d be with you.”

_‘If she had been then she’d be safe.’_ Gideon scowled. “I’m going to search the town, Pines. If I find her then I’ll give you a call. If she returns to that awful Mystery Shack first, though, you call me, understand?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Gideon.”

“I’m not doing it for you, Dipper Pines.” ‘ _Never you._ ’

Tossing the phone back up to his daddy to put back on the hook, Gideon turned to go grab his jacket. “Get ready to go out, daddy. We’re going to go looking for my Mavis.”

***

Mabel chewed on a strand of her hair. “If she’s not with Gideon then where can she be?” She spun around to stare out the window at the night sky. “It’s dark now, Dipper! She should be home by now!”

Dipper wrung his hands together. “I know, I know!” He crossed his arms. “Think. She often goes out into the woods during the day but she’s always back by now, right?” He looked up, stricken. “Something must have happened to her!”

Stan raised his hands. “Now, let’s not panic. We’re no good to Mavis if we do. Look, kids, I’m going to get dressed again and search the woods near the Mystery Shack—“

Both Mabel and Dipper turned to him. “We’re coming with you!”

Stan sighed. “I’m not going far, kids. I need you to stay near the Mystery Shack and listen out for Mavis’s return. Maybe she’ll come through a different door and if she does then I’ll need you to tell me so I can stop looking. Besides, you have to wait for Gideon’s call, remember?”

They deflated. Dipper muttered, “Alright…”

Mabel and Dipper stepped out onto the porch again as Stan went to get dressed. They stared at the dark woods, imagining the horrors that could have happened to their Mavis.

Mabel whimpered. “She’ll be okay, right, Dipper?”

“I hope so, Mabel.” His face crumpled.

“I really, _really_ hope so…”

* * *

**Nothing is more frightening than a fear you cannot name.**

**~Cornelia Funke, Inkheart**


	3. Hours

Grunkle Stan is out in the woods with a flashlight yelling Mavis’s name. They can see the beam of light slashing through the darkness between the trees, but there is no cry of victory or surprise, no Mavis miraculously found. Sitting on the couch on the porch, Dipper and Mabel are close enough to the Mystery Shack to hear if the phone rings, though no call has come yet. 

Slapping absentmindedly at a mosquito bite, caught up in unpleasant thoughts and imaginings, Dipper doesn’t notice that the mosquito bites on his arm vaguely spell out ‘BECABES’. Mabel, equally lost in dark thoughts, doesn’t notice her own mosquito bites on her left leg loosely form the word ‘SYASIS’. Purpose fulfilled, the Soothquitoes buzz off, uncaring of whether or not their warnings are heeded.

“She took her satchel too,” Dipper muttered, causing Mabel to glance at him. He looked back at her grimly. “If something from that journal got her then we have no chance of—“

“Don’t finish that sentence!” Mabel shook her head following her outburst. She tucked her head and legs under her sweater, retreating into Sweater Town as she repeated, “Don’t finish what you were going to say. She’s _fine_ , she’ll be back soon if Grunkle Stan doesn’t find her first.”

His heart cracked and he _wanted_ to believe her.

He wanted to believe that Mavis wasn’t _lost_ , but if she wasn’t, she’d be here, and she isn’t, so… Pulling his cap down to hide his eyes, Dipper forced his grim thoughts back.

Surely his sister would be found _safe_ and they wouldn’t let her out in the woods by herself anymore and she’d pitch a fit but the law would be laid down and everything would be normal again.

Mavis would be home again.

She _would_.

***

It’s close to ten at night when the phone rings.

For one wild ( _glad_ ) moment, both Mabel and Dipper _believe_ that it will be Mavis on the other end, maybe weepy and in need of a ride or sheepish with apologies, but _safe_ and on her way home.

It’s not their little sister.

It’s Gideon.

He can’t find Mavis anywhere in town, and Dipper can hear the worry in his voice as clearly as he hears it in Mabel’s. Gideon somehow got the whole town to search every building in Gravity Falls for Mavis, but she’s not anywhere. Everyone now knows she’s not home where she should be, and people have already volunteered to form a search party tomorrow if Sheriff Blubs calls for one.

By the tone of Gideon’s voice alone, Dipper knows there’s going to be a search party tomorrow.

He hopes there isn’t a need for one, that Mavis will suddenly and miraculously appear soon.

She doesn’t, and when Grunkle Stan comes out of the woods to meet the sheriff and deputy under the flashing lights of their squad car it feels like they’ve abandoned Mavis to the horrors of the night.

Dipper _knows_ Mavis is scared of the dark. She’s scared of spiders and creepy bugs, of zombies and werewolves, and of thunderstorms and the dark. She’s going to be scared and alone and cold and _no, they can’t just leave her out there!_

When Dipper throws himself at Stan to beg him to keep looking, Mabel is right there with him, and four hands grasp at their great uncle who looks so helpless and heartbroken before their pleas.

They only return to the attic with great reluctance, dragging their feet when Stan puts his foot down and says they’re not going out there to look for her because he can’t deal with three lost kids when he’s having trouble with only one. Mabel spends hours shifting between vocal worry and silent tears on his lap. Thoughts chase each other around Dipper’s head and he strains his hearing to listen for Mavis’s return. The attic feels empty, and though they try to not look, the image of Mavis’s empty bed pierces their heart with every accidental glance.

They fall asleep near dawn, exhausted and burdened with guilt that they’re safe when their little sister is suffering terrors unknown. 

Neither of them notice the other’s bug bites.

* * *

**In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.**

**~Friedrich Nietsche, Human, All-too-Human**


End file.
